Manky deals
by Pup-Ashbless
Summary: The search for General Cross is a perilous one full of many times where making deals is sometimes necessary along the way as Allen, Lavi, and Krory know well.// Takes place before the Suman arc. Somewhat crack.


**Manky deals** by **Yofune-Nushi**

Summary: The search for General Cross is a perilous one full of many times where making deals is sometimes necessary along the way as Allen, Lavi, and Krory know well.// Takes place before the Suman arc.

Warnings: Nothing too serious, there is kind of some dirty stuff but nothing graphic and this is a pure gen fic. Some of the characterizations have been exaggerated on some parts I think.

This really just came to me so I had to make it. It's probably the most bizarre story I've ever written so far.

* * *

_The deal of sound~_

The world was a rather strange and fascinating place as Krory had already discovered during the short amount of time he had already spent with Allen and Lavi.

"Baka Lavi there should be no reason why you should be touching me there while at the same time telling me a stupid made up story about you, Bookman and some hormonal stalking panda!"

Very fascinating…

"It's called a dramatized reenactment, you're overreacting, and I was just showing what the panda did…"

"After hearing about it for two hours straight I think I got the point. Besides how can you expect me to believe an animal like that being even capable of maneuvering and doing things like that to a human no less?"

"…I never said it was the animal that had been doing it…"

Silence stretched for less then a few seconds before Allen rolled his eyes in what looked to be annoyed disgust before looking out the train window again in an attempt to ignore the apparently ever growing desperate for entertainment companion beside him.

It was really just the three of them after all (well four if you counted Timcampy). Lenalee and Bookman had departed for another town while the three males had traveled to another in search of clues for the vagabond General. Both towns had had so called sightings of the man and the group had decided to spilt for the meantime to cover more ground faster. If they found anything of valuable worth in their search they would call the other, if not in a few days' times then the two groups would each take the next train they could and reunite again in the nearest train station they all had decided upon before departure.

To Krory, despite the still ache of pain of loneliness in his heart from Eliade's loss, he was finding it hard to not be enchanted by all the new surroundings he saw every passing moment. Especially being with Allen and Lavi had made it even more better as, while they could not replace Eliade, they were a new experience that Krory was finding ever more wonderful as he never had real, or any kind of friend before them along with Lenalee and Bokkman. He was very fortunate to have met and befriended such nice and good hearted people who actually liked him and weren't scared of having him around.

"Dang_it _Beansprout! Tell you're snitch to stop biting me."

"My name is Allen and stop teasing Tim! He's very sensitive about what you call and do to him."

Even if they could get on his nerves quite a bit.

"Oui, what's your problem anyway? You're usually not this grumpy so fast Allen." Lavi asked while leaning over to once again invade the boy's bubble to see any signs of popping veins on his forehead. Timcampy had apparently chosen to forget his animosity for the red head in favor of squishing his face against Allen's for no apparent reason other than maybe to not be left out. Eye ticking and frown threatening to turn feral, Allen pushed both intruders away from his face and breathed out a sigh as if that could calm him.

"It's nothing…" Allen continued his pushing of the duo's faces away, but alas it was fruitless.

"Allen, Lavi?" Krory announced, startling his two companions who until then had still thought the man was asleep as he had been until several minutes ago.

"Krory kins, I thought you were still asleep." Lavi yelped as Allen finally knocked the older boy off balance and nearly caused him to spiral to the floor.

Ignoring that, as Krory over the first few weeks had learned fairly early on to not be surprised by his two comrade's sometimes bratty tendencies and instead focus upon just how more worldly they are to him, replied. "Lavi, why are you telling so many stories right now?"

Righting himself and slapping a winning all knowing grin he carried when ever he felt the pride of superiority over others (not that lately there was much real reason to feel pride over most of the things he did with small stuff, but Lavi took what he could get) he replied "Stories are necessary to tell on looong" Here Lavi chose to emphasize his point by spreading his arms out so wide he once again smacked a disgruntled Allen in the face. "trips. It makes things more memorable, so it's almost mandatory to tell stories of your past or something. Not that Allen here has any consideration of this sacred ritual." Here the tomato top gave an almost offended glare to the younger boy who looked like he was going to drop dead from sleep any second.

"Hmm" Krory mulled, he had never done something like that before. "I would like to try this, may I tell a tale?"

Eye lighting up, Lavi nodded in encouragement while Allen gave a tired grin all the while trying not to drop his eyelids shut.

"It's okay Allen, you can sleep. I'll entertain Lavi enough to not bother you as much."

"Really Krory, thank you, wake me up if he causes you too much trouble though… He can be more then a handful at times…" And with that Allen began to doze off.

"What's this about I'm right here you know." The ignored Lavi had the right to look offended at the fact his vastly knowledgeable being was being downgraded to that of a level of a troublesome toddler by a child and a man of childlike naïve mentality half of the time.

"Um… How should I begin?" Krory asked hesitantly.

"Just try to start out with something about yourself if you can't think of anything else. Like anything you did or happened to you that you thought was really interesting that we haven't heard about or in detail yet."

Krory didn't think he had that many stories of himself to tell, after all he had spent the majority of his life inside his castle and he didn't think he was up to sharing anything personal about Eliade or how he was ostracized by the villagers before that. Oh wait; he did perhaps have something…

"My first experience of using my Innocence was a memorable one. I remember like it was all yesterday, I was trying to clean my teeth from some meat… at least I think it was meat? Anyway I had apparently forgotten about it for a long time until I stumbled upon it again. It kind a peculiar smell to it that wasn't exactly pleasant and it looked a little different from when I first thought it did. I tried biting it and some rather strange colored stuff had come out of it and stuck to the roof of my roof and entangled in my teeth, there were even these strange creatures clinging to some of the shreds…."

So involved in his story Krory had yet to notice how Lavi's grin was somewhat slipping over the course of the story how his face was beginning to take on a rather green quality as old memories of him and Bookman traveling the wild and forging for food that still today was rather traumatic for him settled in.

"Krory kins, unless this has any importance for later could you just skip – Ugh!" Lavi responded when a small force impacted into his stomach. Allen's elbow slipped off the other boy who was now glaring at him. Allen, consciously was oblivious to this as he still slumbering away seemingly unaware of Mexican standoff between Timcampy and Lavi as the latter was now seemingly trying to restrain himself from physically assaulting the other while the former growled and bit the red head in response.

"Anyway" Krory continued on faithfully as if nothing had accrued from his audience. "I went outside to plant the strange creatures in the ground as they looked like worms and worms love ground and to hide under stuff correct? So after I put a rock on top of them, I noticed a lone man walking around. People had come around the woods here and there so I was going to ignore it, but then my teeth began to ache a bit. Well not ache perhaps, it was a strange feeling that wasn't painful or extremely pleasant at first, it just felt awkward. Then before I knew it, I was on top of the man sinking my teeth into his neck." By now Krory's thoughtful frown was beginning to warp into a feral grin as he recalled the adrenaline he felt of the moment of all the smells and taste. Lavi pushed himself back against his seat with a little more effort then he should. "Hehe, the blood oozed and poured all over, the weak little creature just struggled and could do no more. Useless brat's head had slowly fallen off after only a few seconds, ah I can still remember how the muscles and skin tore… the noises… just remembering makes me feel wild!"

Lavi could only notice just how sharp Krory's fangs looked about now. His stomach was feeling queasy and perhaps maybe he should not have eaten such a big snack right before he boarded the train ride. His hair practically shot up when Krory regarded him for a full minute with his mouth open and eyes filled with bloodlust.

"Hey you, let me do a dramatic reenactment on you. Words alone can not describe the event clearly enough. Get over here now."

"I, rather not. I think story time should be done now. I'm really not bored anymore I swear!"

"I'm coming over there."

Clutching his stomach, all the memories of bad food and scary stories of ghosts, werewolves, and vampires, Lavi did the only thing he could do to save himself.

About ten minutes later the train stopped and the first to depart was a rather irate fifteen year old boy with stains of half digested substances covering his front followed by a sorrowful man apologizing for something the fifteen year old did not blame him for and finally a sheepish eighteen year old carrying a black cloak and looking none worse for the wear.

"Hey Allen, at least I didn't commence open fire when you were wearing your uniform."

_The rewards: Krory experiences performing the ancient rituals of being on the road, Lavi got his story, and Allen got his rest… sort of. _

~~*

_The deal of goods~ _

Gambling and haggling was an art Allen considered himself to be rather superb at.

Despite the common belief, luck is actually not the most important quality of the game. What you really need is good deal of experience of reading others and attaining knowledge of how the game will play out from how others or you will respond to a number of different scenarios that could possibly happen. Control and flexibility go hand in hand because if you lose both at any time then you might as well as throw in the towel and give in to the opponent as once something is gone it's nearly impossible to get back.

"I'll uh tell ya about my customers in the last few months matching the description you seek, if you make it worth my while…"

Though you also of great importance you need to know your own opponents chips at least almost as well as you know your own.

Allen stood his ground, his eyes taking in the old woman in front of him. Though she seemed more content to smoke the cigar she held, the gleam of interest and hard analyzing of both him and Krory did not escape him. This was a bargain meeting and from her way of life he had a pretty good guess on what she was hinting towards.

"I see… And what would that be?" he asked more out of politeness then a real need to know.

"I need a hand around here." She was a blunt one, thank God. "You look a bit young though, how old are you, seventeen?"

"About fifteen Madam."

"Hmm, normally I'd let that slide. But I can't afford to get caught again." The woman sighed out cloud of smoke Allen thought he heard her say blasted rookies under her breath. "How about your older friend here, he's good looking enough I'm sure…"

Eyeing his friend, Allen saw Krory pull his hand away from poking the wind chimes and straighten under the new attention he was receiving in finally being included into the conversation.

"I-I'll help with whatever I possibly can with." He said sincerely.

_Oh no you will not, _Thought Allen as there was no way in heaven, hell, or earth that Allen was going to let something like this happen to Krory of all people. It'd be like sticking a tiger in against an ostrich (He'd seen it before too in the circus, first time he saw a cat get chased by a bird). It was not a good idea to let someone like this into a new situation they had no idea of how to deal with.

Especially if it brought up bad memories again so soon, he was doing so well, outwardly anyway.

"Well actually I have someone else in mind. He's a lot more experienced, just what you're looking for. In fact he's coming this way" Allen finished by pointing in the direction of his soon to be latest exchange.

"Well, he's not too bad looking. How old is he?"

"Eighteen."

"Just the age, alright we have a deal." The woman shook the boy's hand and went inside.

"Hey guys, I search around but couldn't find anything of real worth on my end, how about you two?" The red head dazzled the two with such a gorgeous grin that Allen almost found himself regretting treating his friend as an inanimate object.

"We found a person who may know something of General Cross. Allen was amazing; he was able to make a deal with the woman in no time even though she was reputed for being hard to deal with." Krory praised the most youthful in age of the three as he went back to poking the wind chimes with a proud smile of his friend.

"Really, what'd you do Allen? We don't really carry anything on us that would be of worth to others. Don't tell me you bet your coat again." Lavi's laughter was cut short as two arms suddenly linked around in his and despite yells of protest off he went inside the building with the last image of the outside world being both Allen and Krory waving goodbye with frowns on their faces.

"You think he'll be okay Allen?"

"Yeah… Probably."

Silence enveloped the two as they could still hear the yells and curses from their lost comrade inside the building.

The old woman came back in no time to address the two again "Well a deals a deal. How about we go off to a nice restaurant I know down the block and discuss this mystery man of yours over a nice lunch? My treat for finding such a energetic worker for us."

"Thank you Madam!" Both parasite conformers responded simultaneously and all went walked off with no last regard for the one they were leaving behind for the time.

_The rewards: Krory wasn't the one who had to be a sex worker in exchange for information that pretty much proved useless to them in the end. But at least Allen and Krory got a free meal out of it._

_Lavi eventually escaped mostly intact after some trials and one mean guard dog. He was able to get something out of a compromise but it was one he did not wish to disclose anytime soon; or ever. _

~~*

_The deal of hunger~_

It had happened rather quickly actually. On their way across the snowy mountains to finally meet up with Bookman and Lenalee (as the train station was having problems they didn't care to wait for to be fixed) along with three guides that worked for the church in the lead several akuma had attacked and to make a long story short, an avalanche had been caused by all the action and yahoo going on.

The guides were a possibly safe enough distance away and the exorcists had managed to destroy the akuma before the snow hit. So there was not much to worry on that end. They could always travel down the mountain tunnel in the cave they were trapped in with hope it was a way out somehow. Of course one-third of the party differed from that idea.

"I can't leave without my hammer!"

Of course it was dark, with no light anywhere and Lavi's Innocence had been lost from his grip in the ensuring chaos.

So crawl around on all fours on the hard ground in search of the thing was all they could do for the first fifteen minutes or so as Lavi was adamant about not letting Bookman see him without Innocence in hand (apparently it had happened once before and left a lasting impression on the Junior bookman).

Eventually, Allen and Krory called it quits for the sake of a little break and to rest themselves while Lavi continued on unaware of his friend's temporary abandonment of the search at first. Calls of" Are you still looking?" answered by "Sure" and then "Liars I stopped hearing you a while ago!" were swapped back and forth.

"Allen, are you alright? It looked like you were infected pretty badly by the akuma back there weren't you? I can still hear you breathing not very easily." Krory whispered to the tired youth he was sitting by.

"I'm… fine. Just taking longer then usual to repair myself I guess." Allen whispered back. "Though I am a little hungry…" As if to prove the point a rumble was heard from his stomach to which if there had been light Krory would have seen the wince it had been accompanied by.

"Well." Krory replied "I think I have that sand which still we packed in our bag before we left town."

"Really… can you hand it over?"

"Alright, but… first are you willing to make a deal?"

"…?"

"Alright, Allen Krory Chan, I find it. Now I can make us some fire and light the way so we can finally see." Lavi said so proud of himself. With a command fire immediately came to life, effectively lighting up the entire area.

Suddenly, it was as if bringing back the light had also enhanced his hearing. As he could now hear strange noises of sucking and munching like noises.

Cold instincts gripping his neck in a choke hold and causing sweat drops to form. Slowly turning around Lavi braved himself for whatever scene awaited and upon finding what he sought.

There Allen was smiling away clutching a sandwich which both he and Timcampy were eating away at happily together. Looming over Allen was the dark figure attaching fangs possessively at the snow kissed haired neck, drinking away at what was left of the akuma poison in the boy's blood. Both sitting together like they were friends for life despite the cute contrasting morbid picture they made together.

"Hey Lavi that's great you found your Innocence." Allen mumbled through his chews. "Now we can hopefully get out of here, maybe you can melt the snow or something so we don't have to travel down the tunnel… Oh but you have to wait until we're done first."

Everything the boy said went out one ear though the other. For then, Lavi realized right then and there that he must endure the grotesque scene alone as the coldness of the reality that he will never forget this grips him so soundly.

Dropping his hammer simultaneously along with his lower jaw, Lavi could be excused from the haunting sensation he felt over this as once again for a time the world went dark.

Allen's cackling echoed gently in it's bouncing within the area as Krory growled in response and Allen settled back down with the same smile as before as Krory readjusted his positioning better.

Logic is frozen.

_The deal: Krory and Allen got to ease their hunger. No ones sure what Lavi got out of it, but at least he found his hammer again and saved everyone from shivering to death_.

Omake~

Lavi's face turned redder then the blood in his veins when he heard the words coming out of Allen's mouth. He had heard of some pretty nasty stuff over his life, even a few more when he had been sold off as a sex worker against his will (well it had been a long time since being near such open acts as being involved in the church and having Bookman around and all). But to hear of stuff like this, especially coming from Allen of all people was still a bit of a rare shock.

"How did you… I have never…" Lavi's mind failed him as it often did when discovering something new of the boy.

Shrugging carelessly, Allen didn't look bothered in the least by the fact his dirty jokes nearly shock the yahoo out of the other boy. It wasn't his fault, Lavi had been the one to bring up all the things he had learned in his childhood and from his short time as a sex worker (not that he had done anything to even brag about) in a way to hopefully fluster the boy. After all, though a prude and gentleman through and through he always acted, it did not mean Allen was naïve of such things as these. After all you don't have a master like Cross Marian without being exposed to such things, mostly in unique and creative ways too.

"That's interesting…" Krory suddenly piped up. "Eliade and I used to do things just like. Oh, and I thought we were being original too." Krory lamented to himself as Allen and Lavi began shifting uncomfortable in their train seats not quite knowing how to respond to the subject of Krory's love life yet in this way.

"Wow" Lavi finally piped up. "So Krory Chan knows a thing or two about getting it on as well?" Allen promptly smacked the boy on the head for the comment.

"Well, actually there is one thing I would like to know? What is sex exactly?"

Both occupants from the side shared brief eye contact and before Allen could even react, Lavi pushed the boy forward to crash next to Krory.

"Lavi!" The young exorcist yelled.

Lavi only grinned in wary curiosity. "I want to hear your version Beansprout." Actually he didn't. Truth be told Lavi wasn't as big of a natural pervert as he and others often tried to make himself out to be. Hearing things like this, and again, especially from Allen's mouth was for a lack of better words down right disturbing. But the bookman in training had already suffered through wars, starvation, and near death experiences. Suffering through this for the sake of filling his natural curious needs wouldn't be too bad… hopefully.

Besides, knowing he had caused Allen to form that tick at his one eyebrow and glaring at him with a sense of wicked ness would make it all worth it in the end no matter what he heard.

* * *

**Notes* **

**manky: **_adj_ gross; disgusting. The word is derived from the French "manqué," the past participle of "manquer" (to fail). Not all of it was gross, but I liked how the word manky sounded so I used it.

1). You know I saw a special about how they were trying raise two tigers in Australia and one of the prey they tried to convince the tigers to go after was an ostrich. It was pretty funny that for a while that the tigers were scared to death almost of the birds and even when they gathered up the courage to charge and growl they'd always give up at the last minute and hide in the bushes. Guess even the biggest predators can get spooked at first by the weird and unknown.

2). I made fun of Lavi's fear of vampires more then I intended too. Sorry Lavi. He's so fun to poke at.


End file.
